Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

FROM DUTTON'S BRENTWOOD BOOKS NEWSLETTER

Book-odds & book-ends

Our 2007 Bestsellers

Although our 2007 bestseller list is top-heavy with fiction, it's headed up by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and making the top ten are Eat, Pray, Love; A Field Guide to Household Bugs; and The Santa Monica Farmer's Market Cookbook.

Our top selling novels include Thousand Splendid Suns, The Inheritance of Loss, Water for Elephants, Suite Francaise, The Yiddish Policemen's Union and Peony in Love.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in The Telegraph, on children and reading: "It's not just the joy of reading, father-to-son or in the classroom. It's also the benefits of reading. It's probably one of the best anti-poverty, anti-deprivation, anti-crime, anti-vandalism policies you can think of.

"Bookselling in Baghad "Dusty books lie on flattened cardboard boxes on a sidewalk buried in litter and building debris. Their vendors hunch their shoulders and sip hot black tea to fend off the cold. What matters is that they're here."-- From an AP report on the revival of the Mutanabi Street book market in Baghdad less than a year after a car bomb "ripped the market apart, killing at least 38 people and wounding more than 100."

Sydney Taylor Book Awards Sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries, the award recognizes "new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience." The award memorializes Sydney Taylor, author of the All-of-a-Kind Family series. Top winners include the following:

Younger Readers: Sarah Gershman and Kristina Swarner, author and illustrator of The Bedtime Sh'ma: A Good Night Book

Older Readers: Sid Fleischman, author of The Entertainer and the Dybbuk

1 comment:

Thanks very much for mentioning the Sydney Taylor Book Award. We are very pleased to be on your blog, and to know that word of our winners is spreading so quickly - we just announced them on Monday!Best,Heidi Estrin, Sydney Taylor Book Award Committeewww.sydneytaylorbookaward.blogspot.com